This blog will post detailed news items about GLBT issues. Some of the issues include the "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and gay marriage. Please note that my main website is DOASKDOTELL.COM (link on my Profile).

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About Me

Since the 1990s I have been very involved with fighting the military "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and with First Amendment issues. Best contact is 571-334-6107 (legitimate calls; messages can be left; if not picked up retry; I don't answer when driving) Three other url's: doaskdotell.com, billboushka.com johnwboushka.com Links to my URLs are provided for legitimate content and user navigation purposes only.
My legal name is "John William Boushka" or "John W. Boushka"; my parents gave me the nickname of "Bill" based on my middle name, and this is how I am generally greeted. This is also the name for my book authorship. On the Web, you can find me as both "Bill Boushka" and "John W. Boushka"; this has been the case since the late 1990s. Sometimes I can be located as "John Boushka" without the "W." That's the identity my parents dealt me in 1943!

Sunday, October 07, 2012

HRC National Dinner for 2012: the speakers this year made many important points

The HRC National Dinner for 2012 (sometimes called "annual dinner"), at the Convention Center in
Waashington DC, wasn’t quite as huge as that in 2011, but it featured addresses
or speeches with real substance this year.

Chad Griffin (Human Rights Campaign president) started out (when I hear the name “Chad” I keep
thinking of the anger in the young male character in “Days of our Lives”), and
soon introduced Newark NJ major Corey Booker.
I thought about the days in the fall of 1972 when I had worked in
downtown Newark at Public Service for Univac.
And I thought about the meeting of the People’s Party of New Jersey in a
drafty rowhouse in Newark that December.
Speakers can bring back memories, although I don’t know my New Jersey
politics today. I memorized the name
(not a “Looker” or “Looper” but “Booker”).

Booker said that he had been taught by his parents not to
take for granted the world that he had inherited from others but did not
create. It was his responsibility to make it better. It was also possibly his responsibility to be
able to participate in defending it. He wound up with a reference to Thomas
Jefferson.

Screenwriter Justin Lance Black (“Milk”) taught about his
own upbringing in Texas and Virginia.
When he was of college age, he made a visit home in Virginia to family
that had raised him as Mormon (like Bryce Harper, I thought). His mother upset him with a comment that “don’t
ask don’t tell” was objectionable not because of discrimination, but because it
allowed gays to hide in the military and keep secrets, when they weren’t (I use
the subjunctive mood in reporting by hearsay what she said) worthy of service
or even citizenship. That was a shocking
comment. But later his mother visited
him where he lived in California and had a change of heart when she met his
real friends. His mother was left with
wondering why the LDS church insisted on making such personal demands on people
– but that sort of answers its own question.

Black also said that it was important to win the “gay
marriage” referendums, differently posed, in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and
Washington State, and to raise money to place ads for these votes. He said that the Supreme Court would eventually
rule on the matter, and that the Supreme Court would notice the results of the
elections. The Court, he said, likes to be two steps ahead of the public, not
four steps, when decided how far to defer to popular political judgments. .

Actress Sally Field accepted and HRC award from her
25-year-old youngest son Sam, and said that parents need to learn from the
children that they bring into the world.
HRC showed a montage of her films, including “Forest Gump”.

Jessie Tyler Ferguson from “Modern Family” spoke. I believe that a few cast members were
present in the audience and in the clubs this weekend.

No one spoke in detail about the 2011 repeal of "don't ask don't tell", which could be jeopardized if the GOP sweeps into office in November.

During dinner, “Cirque du Soleil” performed (see drama
blog).

Most of the audience (about 2000 people, a sellout) was
local. But a man from Michigan took note
of the progress of the Detroit Tigers baseball game on my cell phone (the
Tigers won, and, yes, pitcher Justin Verlander is cute). One person at my table was a student at
William and Mary, and I mentioned GALA (see Oct. 23, 2011).

The dinner was interesting, as there was choice between
chicken, vegetarian, or vegan. Having
heard Bill Clinton talk about diet, I tried vegan. A Portebello mushroom made up the heart pf
the meal.

The silent auction was conducted by a text messaging system.
The matched contribution session,
following a short auction, was conducted by a similar system, with a running total
and names of donors and table numbers posted on the screen. I think this session raised about $200000.

There was an After Party, but it appeared this year you
needed to purchase a specific ticket for it.

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